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Undisputed lightweight world champion Devin “The Dream” Haney and former champion George Kambosos Jr. re-exchanged “pleasantries” at the press conference two days shy of their showdown at Rod Laver Arena. The combatants talked some trash, but it was Haney’s father/trainer, Bill Haney, who stole the show. He presented Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs) — or at least attempted to — a copy of Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” a reference to Kambosos post-weigh-in mind tricks before their first bout back in June. Kambosos was none too pleased and knocked the book off the dais.

Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) dominated Kambosos to unify all the belts at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, and a little more than four months later.

Haney-Kambosos 2 will be broadcast live in prime time SATURDAY (taking place Sunday afternoon local time) on ESPN. Continue reading “Haney-Kambosos Final Press Conference”

By Jeff Zimmerman

Fightnews.com® caught up Biaggio Ali Walsh, the grandson of the GOAT Muhammad Ali as he prepares to get ready for his next amateur MMA fight Nov. 25 in the Professional Fighters League. Ali Walsh talked about his journey into Mixed Martial Arts, the impact of his brother Nico boxing on his decision to fight, the strong support of his parents, the advice his grandfather would give him and his brother if he was still alive today and much more in this exclusive interview.

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IBF #7 welterweight Ivan “The Volk” Golub (21-1, 16 KOs) won by fourth round TKO over Wesley Tucker (15-4, 9 KOs) on Thursday night at Sony Hall, in the heart of Times Square, mid-town Manhattan. Tucker was credited with a knockdown in round two when Golub’s glove touched the canvas. Golub took over after that. He brutally teed off on Tucker in round four with little coming back. The bout was stopped after that round.

In the main event, former WBO female featherweight champion Heather Hardy (23-2, 4 KOs) scored a six round unanimous decision over Calista Silgado (20-16-3, 15 KOs) in a lightweight bout. The 40-year-old Hardy outworked Silgado to win 58-56, 58-56, 60-54.

Super middleweight Nadim Salloum (9-1, 4 KOs) punished previously unbeaten Leandro Capozucco (4-1, 3 KOs) until the bout was waved off at 1:30 of the sixth round.

Unbeaten flyweight Andy Dominguez (8-0, 6 KOs) destroyed Ricardo Caraballo (7-1, 2 KOs) in the first round. Caraballo down twice. Time was 2:36.

Welterweight Petros Ananyan (17-3-2, 8 KOs) got a referee’s stoppage against Paulo Cesar Galdino (12-6, 8 KOs) in round six of a scheduled eight-rounder.

Anthony “Princesa” Olascuaga 111.6 vs. Marco “El Lobito” Sustaita 111
(WBA Fedelatin flyweight title)

Mikiah Kreps 118.4 vs. Carmarie Matos 118.8
Alexander Castellano 123.4 vs. Miguel Ángel Carrizo 122.2
Trinidad Vargas 116 vs. Jenn Gonzalez 117
Daniel Dejesus 129 vs. Jean Carlos Sepulveda 129.8
Mike Vega 140.2 vs. Carlos Nuñez 140
Gerffred Ngayot 135 vs. TBA

Venue: Seneca Resort & Casino, Niagara Fallas, NY
Promoter: All Star Boxing
TV: ESPN Knockout (Latin America only)

Former longtime heavyweight world champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder and top contender Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius went face-to-face Thursday at the final press conference as the two power-punchers promised fireworks when they meet in a WBC heavyweight title eliminator this Saturday on pay-per-view from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The press conference also featured an intense verbal back and forth between former world champions and super middleweight rivals Caleb “Sweethands” Plant and Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell, who square off in a WBC super middleweight title eliminator in the co-main event.

Deontay Wilder: “We were sparring partners and we respect each other, but don’t you worry, the beast will come out on Saturday night. It’s going to be fireworks for sure.

Robert Helenius: “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe in myself. If I didn’t think that I could become the heavyweight world champion, I would have got an easier job.

Caleb Plant: “I just feel like I’m going to put a whooping on him and he’ll run off into the sunset. I hope he’s fully prepared.”

Anthony Dirrell: “Only way he retires me is if he runs around the ring until I’m old. He can’t hit. What can he do? Who has he whooped We’re going in there and giving it our all. My plan is to go in there and whoop his ass.”

The final press conference took place today for the historic women’s boxing doubleheader this Saturday at The O2 Arena. Shields-Marshall and Mayer-Baumgardner will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+.

Claressa Shields: “I’m not worried about Savannah Marshall. I came over here. I’m a star in America. Don’t get it twisted. I didn’t have to come over here. Nobody was ever running from her. Nobody was ever scared to come over here and fight her. We said, ‘Let’s do it.’ And you better punch as hard as you say you can. Because if you don’t have any punching power, it’s going to be a hard night for you.”

Savannah Marshall: “She can try to knock me out. But if you’ve got it, then you’ve got it. If you haven’t got it, then you haven’t. It is what it is. Why is it hard for you to knock someone out? If you land on someone, then you hurt them. If you land on them and you’ve got pillow fists, then they’re not going to go anywhere.”

Mikaela Mayer: “I’m expecting to deliver the performance of my life. Contrary to what she’s saying, I am constantly getting better. I still don’t even feel like I’ve hit my peak. I want to put it all together in this fight. I want to embarrass her. I want to make her sound stupid because she said a lot leading up to this fight.”

Alycia Baumgardner: “There’s no respect. At the end of the day, this is the fight game. This girl is trying to beat me. I’m trying to beat here. I have great sportsmanship, but I don’t respect her. She talks too much. And when somebody talks too much, you’ve got to shut them up, and that’s what I’m going to do on Saturday night.”

Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) announced today that former world title challengers Alexandro “El Peque” Santiago (26-3-5, 13 KOs) and Antonio “Carita” Nieves (20-3-2, 11 KOs) will meet again in a ten round rematch of their 2016 draw on the Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva Showtime PPV undercard on October 29 from Desert Diamond Arena (formerly Gila River Arena) in Glendale, Ariz., just outside Phoenix.

In a battle of undefeated heavyweights, Jeremiah “Dream Land” Milton (6-0, 5 KOs) will square off against Quintin Sumpter (5-0, 3 KOs) in a six-round bout in the non-televised portion of the card. Also in action will be super welterweight Eliezer Silva (1-0) against Phillip “Fresh” Carmouche (2-3) in a four-rounder.

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Hall of Fame promoter Lou DiBella spoke to Peter Maniatis of the KO show about the George Kambosos vs. Devin Haney rematch on Sunday (Saturday in the US) at the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia, televised on ESPN.

“My second trip (to Melbourne) in four months, said DiBella. “I love this town. What a great city and what a great place to do boxing.

“Let’s be honest. The last (Kambosos-Haney) fight disappointed. Forget about the fact Australia didn’t get to keep the belts and George lost the fight. That happens. It wasn’t a particularly good fight. It wasn’t a pleasing fight. I think George was distracted. I think a lot of it was on George. I don’t think his eye was on the prize. Continue reading “DiBella: Kambosos will do everything to win”

Things heated up at the final press conference for the clash between Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KOs) and Savannah Marshall 12-0, 10 KOs) for the undisputed WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO middleweight belts on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. It also got testy between IBF/WBO women’s superfeather champ Mikaela Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs) and WBC superfeather ruler Alycia Baumgardner (12-1, 7 KOs) who meet in a unification.

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WBO bantamweight champion Paul Butler goes in search of boxing immortality on December 13 when he faces Naoya Inoue for the undisputed world bantamweight title at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Inoue holds the IBF, WBA and WBC belts and wants to clean up the division before moving up in weight – but Butler warns not to count him out just yet.

“I’ve been boxing for over 20 years and all the successes and setbacks have led me here, to the biggest fight of my career, with the biggest prize in the sport on offer,” said Butler. “I am under no illusions as to the size of the task that faces me, but I have been going to bed dreaming of becoming the undisputed bantamweight champion of the world.

“Inoue is a phenomenal fighter but not one person should be underestimating me, my skills, or my resolve. I am going to Japan to write my name into the history of our sport.”

Undisputed lightweight world champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) and George Kambosos Jr. (20-1, 10 KOs) faced off yesterday, but at today’s open workout, they were kept separate. Haney-Kambosos 2 will be broadcast live on ESPN.

Devin Haney: “He’s making up every excuse in the book. He said he wasn’t going to, but now they’re saying I was holding, it was this, it was that. Whatever you want to say, he can keep saying it. The talk doesn’t matter. I’m going to go in there and do what I’m going to do regardless. No matter what referee is in there, no matter where the fight is at, it doesn’t matter.”

George Kambosos Jr: “When I went back to that dressing room {after the first fight}, my mindset changed right away. I’m a challenger again. I wasn’t upset. I’m in a familiar place, and this is where I’ve been most of my career. Doubt me? No problem. I love when they doubt me. I love when they think I have no chance. That’s OK. We’ll prove them wrong once again.”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Unbeaten super lightweights Liam Paro and Brock Jarvis faced off at the final press conference ahead of this Saturday Nights action from the South Bank Piazza in Brisbane, Australia. The event marks the debut of Matchroom Boxing in Australia. Shown exclusively live on DAZN around the world.

Deontay Wilder: “You can always expect nothing but the best from me. And I don’t get paid for overtime. I’ve been known for the knockouts and I’m going to end my career continuing to get those knockouts…I’m in the game to fight the best. That’s not going to stop. I want the champions and the top contenders. I want all challengers. You name them, I want them.”

Robert Helenius: “I can’t give away too much, but we’ve seen what people do to disrupt Wilder. We have a plan and now we need to execute…he is powerful yes, but I don’t believe that I’m without power. The hardest punchers I’ve faced are Lamon Brewster and Samuel Peter, and I expect Wilder to be similar. The difference with Wilder is that he’s much faster.”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Former IBF and IBO 130-pound champion Gairy St Clair, 47, was sentenced to three months imprisonment by magistrate Paul Lyon in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday. St Clair pleaded guilty to three charges of not wearing a face mask and assault. He was represented by lawyer Lovemore Ndou, who is also a former world champion boxer and actually outpointed St Clair over twelve rounds in a 2012 world title bout.

“This is a clear case of injustice. Gairy wasn’t sentenced on the facts. He was sentenced for being a boxer,” Ndou said. Ndou lodged an appeal and St Clair was released on bail. Interestingly, Ndou outpointed Gairy St Clair over twelve rounds in Sydney in a 2012 world title bout.

St Clair currently owns and runs a Gairy St Clair Gym in Gymea, a suburb in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Heather Hardy 132.8 vs. Calista Silgado 130.8
Nadim Salloum 167.8 vs. Ahuad Jorge Leandro Capozucco 166.6
Andy Dominguez Velasquez 110 vs. Ricardo Caraballo 109.2
Ivan Golub 150.6 vs. Wesley Tucker 152
Petros Ananyan 142 vs. Paulo Cesar Galdino 140

Venue: Sony Hall, NYC
Promoter: Boxinginsider
TV: Bxngtv.com ($19.99 PPV)

By Miguel Maravilla

Super welterweights Jose “Chon” Zepeda and former world champion Regis “Rougarou” Prograis met Wednesday afternoon at the Conga Room at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles to officially announce their WBC super lightweight championship fight on November 26 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, live on Pay Per View. Zepeda and Prograis displayed the upmost respect for each other. Prograis called out promoter MarvNation for flying him in coach instead of first class.

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Famed boxing referee and judge Armando Garcia, who has worked world championship bouts all over the world, has updated his Professional Boxing Referee Manual. Here is the link to the latest update.

“It is 100% free,” said Garcia. “I am not looking for any benefit. I’m hoping it can be made available to the boxing world for greater discussion and understanding.”

“I’m not Ivan Baranchyk. When I drop people, I will finish them off!”

A recharged Regis “Rougarou” Prograis insists he will not repeat the big mistake he made the last time he was world champion – taking it for granted. The vacant WBC world super lightweight belt is up for grabs when Prograis collides with Jose Zepeda in a mouth-watering fight on November 26 in Carson, California.

Prograis won the WBA strap in 2019 after stopping Kiryl Relikh and admits his ascent to the top of the division was “easy” and the significance was lost on him. The 33-year-old’s defeat to Josh Taylor in their huge unification bout later that year, and his long wait to regain another shot, has made him change his ways.

“I feel like I’m totally different now because when I was the world champion – I’m going to be honest with you – I didn’t cherish it,” Prograis told Probellum.com. “It was easy to me. I’m not even gonna lie, it was easy to me. At the time I was preparing to fight for the belt I went to L.A. and for my first two weeks there we had parties at the house and all kinds of stuff, and this is me fighting for my world championship! Continue reading “Prograis: Zepeda has never seen nothing like me”

After some recent disappointing last-minute cancellations, we finally have a MASSIVE fight weekend to look forward to.

THURSDAY
Bxng.tv has a $19.99 PPV headlined by former female champion Heather “The Heat” Hardy (22-2, 4 KOs) against Calista Silgado (20-15, 15 KOs) in a six-rounder from Sony Hall, in the heart of Times Square, mid-town Manhattan. Also IBF #7 welterweight Ivan “The Volk” Golub (20-1, 15 KOs) defends his USBA belt against Wesley Tucker (15-3, 9 KOs). Calling the fights from ringside will be former NYSAC Commissioner Randy Gordon and former heavyweight contender “Gentleman” Gerry Cooney.

FRIDAY
All Star Boxing has a card featuring WBA #8 flyweight Anthony “Princesa” Olascuaga (4-0, 2 KOs) defending his WBA Fedelatin title in a ten-rounder against Marco “Lobito” Sustaita (13-4-1, 11 KOs) at Seneca Resort & Casino in Niagara Falls, New York. Unfortunately there’s no U.S. carrier, but ESPN Knockout will televise throughout all of Latin America.

SATURDAY
DAZN kick things off EARLY with a card that starts at 4AM ET/1AM PT from the South Bank Piazza in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The main event is a very attractive showdown between WBO #2 super lightweight Liam Paro (22-0, 13 KOs) and IBF #11 lightweight Brock Jarvis (20-0, 18 KOs) for the WBO Global 140lb title.

ESPN+ presents the women’s super fight between Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KOs) and Savannah Marshall 12-0, 10 KOs) for the undisputed WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO middleweight belts at the O2 Arena in London. Also on that card is the women’s super featherweight unification between IBF/WBO champ Mikaela Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs) and WBC ruler Alycia Baumgardner (12-1, 7 KOs). The stream starts at 2:30PM ET, 11:30AM PT.

FS2 has undercard action leading into the Wilder-Helenius PPV starting at 7PM ET/4 PM PT. Seeing action are super welterweight Vito Mielnicki Jr. (12-1, 8 KOs) and lightweight Michel “La Zarza Ali” Rivera (23-0, 14 KOs) in separate bouts, plus undefeated heavyweight Gurgen Hovhannisyan (3-0, 3 KOs) in an eight-round showdown against Michael Coffie (13-2, 10 KOs).

The $74.99 pay-per-view topped by the WBC heavyweight title eliminator between former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) and Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) from Barclays Center in Brooklyn will start at 9PM ET/6PM PT. In the co-feature, former IBF super middleweight champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) faces two-time WBC super middleweight champion Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (34-2, 25 KOs) in a 12-round WBC super middleweight title eliminator. The other two bouts are undefeated heavyweight Frank Sanchez (20-0, 13 KOs) against Carlos Negron (25-3, 20 KOs) in a 10-rounder, and bantamweight contenders Gary Antonio Russell (19-0, 12 KOs) against former IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez (20-2, 13 KOs) in a twelve-round rematch.

ESPN kicks in at 10:30PM ET, 7:30PM PT with the rematch between undisputed lightweight world champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) and former champ “Ferocious” George Kambosos, Jr. (20-1, 10 KOs) from Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. In the co-feature, two-time world title challenger Jason “Mayhem” Moloney (23-2, 18 KOs) takes on Nawaphon Kaikanha (51-1-1, 46 KOs) in a twelve-round WBC bantamweight final eliminator. Also, former WBA super flyweight champion Andrew Moloney (24-2, 16 KOs) fights tricky former world title challenger Norbelto Jimenez (31-9-6, 16 KOs) in a ten-rounder.

Want more? Both the Brisbane and ESPN shows will stream hours and hours of undercard bouts. “Before the Bell” on DAZN starts streaming at 2:15AM ET/11:15PM PT while undercard bouts on ESPN+ begin streaming at 6PM ET/3PM PT.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

Why does a title unification bout exist? Simply because there are plural (more than one) champions. Japan’s welterweight champ, WBO#12 Keita Obara (26-4-1, 23 KOs), 147, proved too strong by dispatching interim titlist Takeru Obata (12-6-1, 5 KOs), 146.5, with a single right and thus unified the national belts on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.

The 5’11” hard-puncher Obara, in 2016, had an ambitious shot at the IBF 140-pound belt in Moscow only to be quickly iced by Edward Troyanovsky, but still kept fighting in national or WBO AP title goes. Keita, an upright stylist, acquired the Japanese welter belt by dethroning Yuki Nagano in 2020, but he suffered an injury before his rematch with Nagano, who eventually faced southpaw puncher Takeru Obata for the interim national belt with the latter victorious via fifth-round stoppage this June.

To make a long story short, the full champ beat the interim champ. Continue reading “Obara halts Obata, unifies Japanese 147lb belts”

Former WBC interim bantamweight title challenger Tasana Salapat (68-1, 50 KOs) scored an eight round unanimous decision over Cris Alfante (18-11-1, 10 KOs) to claim the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council bantamweight title on Wednesday at Rangsit International Stadium in Rangsit, Thailand. Scores were 77-74, 77-74, 78-73.

Salapat ran his record to 48-0 before suffering his only loss to Takuma Inoue in 2018. He has now won 20 straight since then against mostly dubious competition, which explains the lack of a world rating despite his lofty won/loss ledger.

By Mauricio Sulaiman – Son of Jose Sulaiman
President of the WBC

I have researched in several places for the definition of “sport”, and in all those sources I found words and concepts such as: “physical activity, rules and regulations; game or competition, training, entertainment, hobby or amusement and health”.

Sports have existed since the beginning of humanity, and new modalities are constantly being created or invented, some of them unimaginable and even some filed with ingenuity.

We have all practiced some type of sports, whether for physical activity and health, or for recreation and entertainment, and also some practice it professionally.

We also follow sports with pleasure and passion, and most likely, everyone who reads this column is passionately fond of one or more of them: Football, soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, boxing, wrestling, fishing, hunting, chess, gymnastics, etc.

The original Olympic Games were born in Greece, as a way to find the best, and likewise, the modern ones are, without a doubt, one of the most important sporting events in the world. Winning a medal means achieving glory and, in many cases, it forever changes the future of the athlete, its family and even of a country. Continue reading “Doping in Sports”

You can see three prelim bouts leading into Saturday’s Wilder-Helenius pay-per-view from Barclays Center in Brooklyn on FS2.

Rising super welterweight Vito Mielnicki Jr. (12-1, 8 KOs) will face Limberth Ponce (19-5, 11 KOs) in an 8/10-round showdown that headlines the telecast. Other fights feature unbeaten lightweight contender Michel Rivera (23-0, 14 KOs) against Jerry Pérez (14-1, 11 KOs) in an eight-rounder, and undefeated heavyweight Gurgen Hovhannisyan (3-0, 3 KOs) in an eight-rounder against Michael Coffie (13-2, 10 KOs), who hopes to climb back to contention after back-to-back defeats to Jonny Rice in July 2021 and January of this year.

Fresh off the biggest win of his young career, super featherweight prospect George “El Yuyu” Acosta (13-1, 1 KOs) will face Jose Angulo (14-3, 7 KOs) in an eight-round bout will serve as the main event on October 21 at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California. In the co-main event, bantamweight Manuel “El Meny” Flores (13-0, 11 KOs) faces an opponent that will be determined later. You can catch the action on Thompson Boxing’s social media channels.

Former heavyweight world champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder previewed his long-awaited return to the ring on “The Pivot Podcast” and promised fan-friendly action in his PPV showdown against Robert Helenius this Saturday, October 15 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“I give it all 110% percent,” said Wilder. “I tell people that I only have three years left that I want to dedicate to this business. I want to get back to the big fights and to giving the fans what they want to see, and that’s me risking my life for others’ entertainment…I’m doing it for the people this time. It’s not about just my family anymore, it’s about everyone who I’ve motivated, inspired and encouraged all over the world.

Interestingly, Wilder revealed that his original game plan in boxing was to become a journeyman boxer to make extra money. Continue reading “Wilder: I only have three years left”